2018 Jubilarian Sue McMahon, OP

One of Sister Sue McMahon’s favorite travels was to the lands of Dominic. She particularly loved Siena, home of St. Catherine. This seems fitting, as Sister Sue followed St. Catherine’s advice to “Help one another by word and doctrine, and the example of good works” throughout her 50 years of consecrated life.

Sr. Sue received her Bachelor’s degree from Oakland University and her Master’s from Catholic University of America. She entered the Dominican Sisters of Oxford, now the Dominican Sisters of Peace, in 1968 while serving as an elementary school teacher at St Sylvester School in Warren, MI. She continued to teach in Michigan throughout her novitiate, and then returned to study herself at Siena Heights University, preparing for a new role in healthcare administration.

Sr. Sue taught religious education at schools throughout Michigan for nearly nine years. She left education in 1981 to serve her Congregation as the Assistant Administrator at the then Lourdes Nursing Home, now Lourdes Senior Community, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Peace.

In 1989 Sister Sue left Lourdes to pursue studies regarding Senior Housing. She wanted to learn all the procedures and federal regulations governing senior independent housing. She was employed by Fourmidable Management Company, which operated and managed over fifty facilities in the metropolitan area. In June of 1990 Sister became the first director of what is now Fox Manor on the Lake on the Lourdes Campus, the independent living arm of the Lourdes Nursing Home.

She spent the final years of her professional career at Lourdes Senior Community as the Vicaress of Mission Effectiveness, working to apply the Dominican identity and mission to the operations of the Center.

Sister Sue is also the mother of the beautiful Vivian’s Via Rosa retreat. She identified an unused residence on the campus of Lourdes and proposed that the house be renovated as a spirituality center. She obtained resources for renovation from a benefactor in memory of the donor’s wife. Vivian’s Via Rosa is a popular retreat space as well as a “home away from home” for family members of residents of Lourdes Senior Community.

Even after her retirement in 2008, Sr. Sue continued to be an example of good works, serving as a volunteer at the Congregation’s St. Mary Retreat House, at the Lourdes Nursing Home, and at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Oxford Motherhouse.

Sr. Sue McMahon continues her years of service to God ’s people in her ministry of prayer and presence. As she walks the halls of Lourdes each day she carries her rosary and prays for all of us.

2 responses to “2018 Jubilarian Sue McMahon, OP”

Congratulations Sr. Sue on 50 awesome years! I’m not sure you will even remember me, I believe I was a novice when I met you. My name was Sr. Ellen Marie aka Charlotte Batchelor from St. Benedict’s. I was just thinking about Sr. Teresita, when I happened to see this. Congratulations again on 50 years of dedication. I remember Lourdes very well, it was Menscola when I was 14 I rode my bike 31/2 mikes down Scott Lake Rd to volunteer many years ago. God bless you!